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====== 01 Moathouse ======

//The following is an excerpt from [[Smike]]'s journal://

===== Day 1 (Sep 23): Freedom! =====

I'm free! I was finally rescued from that horrible cell by a dwarf barbarian ([[Krulla]]), half-elf monk ([[Amak]]) and elf warrior/wizard ([[Minh]]). They had come to the Moathouse on behalf of a Hommletton dwarf looking for his master, [[Spugnoir]] the shopkeeper (who apparently likes to nose around this joint). These kind gentlemen aided me with my wounds so I agreed to repay them by aiding them in their adventure.

We encountered a massive locked gate but it was no trouble for me to melt it with my magicks so that the dwarf could brush it aside. Past the gate we found my old companion [[Agellio]]...but he was undead! It was the freakiest thing I've ever seen!

I watched our back while my new comrades dispatched the abomination and the gnoll controlling it. We found scraps from a journal by [[Geynor Ton]] indicating an obelisk somewhere down below. My comrades had sustained some injuries and needed to go back to town to rejuvenate before accompanying me any farther so I elected to travel back with them.

We got back to town late at night. Went to this guy [[Spugnoir]] who had apparently been identifying some relics the party had found at the Moathouse. "Spoon" said he gave the stuff back to [[Minh]] (the elf warrior/wizard) early that morning. Obviously he had been tricked (sorcery?) into handing it over to our enemies (whoever they are!).

Then we went to see the [[Cannoness]]. She had some information on the "[[Doomdreamers]]", a nasty bunch who seek to raise [[Tharzidun]], the God of Annihilation. (We should probably try to stop that from happening.) The [[Cannoness]] agreed to give [[Terjon]] into our service, to stop the bad guys.

Spent the night at the inn. They only had high beds, obviously they don't get many gnomes visiting these parts.

===== Day 2 (Sep 24): Obelisk and Grells =====

Met [[Terjon]] (cleric) at the church in the morning. From there we travelled back to the [[Moathouse]] to investigate further. Went back to the room where we discovered the abomination and found some stairs going down. (Also found a sealed passage leading to the south-east but couldn't get past the freshly incanted stone wall.)

At the bottom of the stairs was the pool mentioned in the journal. Minh needed some magical assistance to swim down to the bottom (water breathing potion) and open the false bottom (scroll of shape stone). He's not very adept in the arcane arts.

The water emptied and I devised a system of ropes, pulley and platform to lower us down. Very cold down there. We landed about 50 feet down on large, strange stone mound (about 30' across). It was black with veins moving through it. On west side was another platform that could lower us further. The fool monk almost fell trying to jump over to the other platform without touching the ground. (The veins seemed to go after anything that touched the ground.) The rest of us had the sense to just hurry across.

The mound dropped off precipitously and I began to suspect then that it was in fact the obelisk we were seeking. The dwarf was lowering us down its side when a hideous tentacled beast (Grell) dropped on us and attacked. A fireball and a little hack and slash finished it off nicely but it was a dangerous enemy: 10 tentacles which can each bind a man (with a sticky substance on the pads which may be a paralysis toxin) and a huge, powerful beak. And it is the more dangerous because it can fly. (How, I wonder? Perhaps it has some essence that could be distilled to create a Fly potion?)

As we lowered ourselves down we saw that the obelisk was actually suspended about 30' above the floor of a great chamber, at the top of a pillar. The chamber also had a few religious symbols on the floor (a triangle and a perverted sun). At the bottom we encountered a raving cleric-type who attacked us but we were able to best him. We found a shortsword+1, a magical pearl, and a note on him:

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The [[Water Temple]] will soon make its move against the forces of Fire. Return quickly [[Festerath]], for we need your aid. Together we shall win the favour of the doomdreams and the [[Doomreamers]] and the [[Triad]] itself.
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Not quite sure what that's all about but the nutty cleric must have been [[Festerath]]. One other point: [[Festerath]] summoned a small fire elemental, so he must be a follower of the Fire Temple.

Exploring further we found an archway leading into nothing but a black stone wall. I divined it was magickal (conjuration) but could learn nothing further. (We were later to find that it conjures these Grell beasts.) The triangle symbol on the floor (obex) did not appear to be magickal but the perverted sun symbol may be because [[Amak]]'s judgement seemed a little impaired after he stepped on it.

Meanwhile that fool [[Minh]] climbed the ladder and somehow fiddled with the base of the obelisk. Before I knew what happened he disappeared. We were about to try passing through the archway when he reappeared, coming down from above the obelisk. He described the most bizarre scenario: he was transported to a black room (perhaps inside the obelisk?) and a deep voice spoke to him of gathering the "hearts of the four moons" in order to be free. Presumably, the temples are competing to find these four relics to gain favour with the doomdreamer(s) and release the [[Dark God]]. Perhaps this obelisk bound one of the relics. But we appear to have lost the special items needed to access the obelisk. No doubt the [[Fire Temple]] has recovered them and gotten here before us.

[[Minh]] was then offered a bite of some black fruit that was given him and when he refused was expelled to the room above the obelisk. [[Minh]] seemed somehow frailer after that encounter. We went up there to have a look around but could find nothing: naught magickal or mundane.

So we went back down to explore the archway. [[Minh]] (gods preserve him!) touched the black wall twice and two Grells emerged from it. Obviously it is just a conjuring trick.

The first Grell was fairly easy to dispose of but the second grabbed [[Amak]] and flew away. I had no choice but to kill the creature and hope for the best. Unfortunately, the fall proved fatal for poor [[Amak]]. Respiriting his body was beyond [[Terjon]]'s power so we decided to return to town in hopes that the [[Cannoness]] would be able to call [[Amak]] back. Besides a few passages upstairs there was little more to be discovered at the [[Moathouse]], in any event.

We also brought the corpse of [[Festerath]] back to [[Hommlet]] with us to extract information from it. Arriving back in town late at night we left the bodies at [[Jaanus]]' temple for preparation while we retired to the inn.

===== Day 3 (Sep 25): Hommlet - Raising Amak =====

We had to sell half our treasure to bring [[Amak]] back. (Those [[Jaanus]] types are so obstinant about bargaining!) And he didn't even thank us when he was raised!

The [[Cannoness]] channeled the spirit of [[Festerath]] but we weren't able to get much out of him. What we did learn is that he was at the [[Moathouse]] to reclaim some "holy" relics and that the elemental churches are fighting for to win the favour of the [[Doomdreamers]]. He mentioned a "[[Temple of All Consumption]]" or some such thing...presumably it is the [[Temple of Elemental Evil]] the [[Cannoness]] told us about.

===== Day 4 (Sep 26): Rest =====

We paid off [[Terjon]] (he is such a stickler--I'm glad to be rid of him!) according to the letter of the contract and learned that he had gone back to the [[Moathouse]] and sealed off the entrance to the obelisk so there is little point going back there. It looks like the Temple is where all the action is so we'll head there after my comrades get a few days recuperation.

===== Day 7 (Sep 29): Bored =====

This village is such a backwater hole! The only fun to be had is in the tavern. (Note to self: the locals are easily amused by simple illusions, an easy way to earn a few coins for mead.) I met a rather interesting paladin there, calls himself [[Xaod]]. Rather unconventional for a paladin. He seems familiar somehow. 
